Virtual Realities

These days everyone wants to be a social butterfly. But what does it really mean to be social? And is there a difference between being sociable and social altogether?

We live in a highly media saturated society, so our social practices extend to and stem from social networking. But let’s say hypothetically we distance ourselves from the online aspects of it… How much more different would we conduct our relationships?

I’m no exception to this media craze myself and I often use the phrase “if you don’t have pictures to post, then what proof do you even have of being there at all?” But is this a healthy take on how we should interact? Going out used to be effortless but now it’s a matter of taking pictures before, during and after the event, posting pictures and sharing them with the world over multiple social media platforms (And we all have that one friend who messages you the very next morning for last nights pics, no chill zone whatsoever for bragging rights). In essence, has sociability become something of a popularity contest? In some ways our social profiles literally are an extension of our real life personas but I highly doubt we are all sipping expensive lattes every morning nor do we all “wake up like this” with a face full of foundation and gloss — Nice try honey but It’s not realistic.

Living in such a hyper real environment has caused a superficial existence fueled by the “like” button and social recognition. Ideally, our online selves are to correspond with our real life identities. Now I’m not saying that we are all liars, but we aren’t exactly being a hundred percent genuine in what we portray — for the most part it’s all highly exaggerated.

In dating it gets even more trickier, because it sets people up for false expectations and lots of misconstruing. Things aren’t always as they appear especially when it comes to social networking (Shoutout to all catfish out there). Relationships are genuinely built on the premise of trust which means that you cannot expect your partner to accept the exaggerated version of yourself. And why should you? The prototype is anyway the better version. It isn’t any wonder relationships aren’t durable these days, because they’re based on weak ties built over social networks instead of investing real time and effort. Sure, it’s more easier and convenient (and not to mention much cheaper than taking a drive) to call bae up, but it’s much more gratifying to have that connection in person than it could ever be online.

You may have over a thousand “friends” on Facebook, but are they all really your friends? I mean, how many of these people do you actually know on a personal basis? That’s the beauty of social networking, it allows us to conduct a plethora of weak ties and strengthen a few others…. But it’s downfall is that it doesn’t really compensate for face to face interaction. It has it’s perks though, you wouldn’t be reading this if not for social networking. Just remember, there’s a whole world out there waiting to be discovered, don’t constrain yourself to this small one.

Originally posted on: bit.ly/MissConceptionTheBlog